Earned Media Hub: Marketing’s Secret Weapon?

Are you struggling to amplify your brand’s message beyond paid advertising? The earned media hub is the definitive resource for marketing professionals seeking to maximize the impact of earned media strategies. It offers a centralized platform to manage, analyze, and optimize your PR and content marketing efforts. Is this the secret weapon your marketing team needs to finally crack the earned media code?

Step 1: Setting Up Your Account and Initial Project

First things first, you’ll need an account. If you don’t already have one, head over to Earned Media Hub and sign up for a free trial. They usually offer a 14-day trial period, which is plenty of time to get your feet wet. Once you’re logged in, the first thing you’ll see is the main dashboard. It’s a bit overwhelming at first, but don’t worry, we’ll break it down.

Creating Your First Project

1. Navigate to the “Projects” tab: On the left-hand sidebar, you’ll find a menu. Click on the “Projects” icon. It looks like a small folder.
2. Click “+ New Project”: This button is located in the top-right corner of the “Projects” page. It’s a bright blue button and hard to miss.
3. Enter Project Details: A modal window will pop up. Here, you’ll need to enter the following information:
   • Project Name: Give your project a descriptive name. For example, “Q3 Product Launch” or “Brand Reputation Monitoring.”
   • Industry: Select your industry from the dropdown menu. This helps Earned Media Hub tailor its recommendations and analytics.
   • Target Region: Specify your target geographic region. This is crucial for accurate media monitoring. For instance, if you are focusing on the Atlanta metro area, select “Georgia, USA” and then refine to the specific counties like Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, and Cobb.
4. Click “Create Project”: Once you’ve filled in all the necessary information, click the “Create Project” button at the bottom of the modal.

Pro Tip: Be as specific as possible with your project details. The more accurate your information, the better the results you’ll get. For example, instead of just selecting “Technology” as your industry, choose “SaaS” or “Fintech” if that’s more relevant.

Common Mistake: Forgetting to set the target region. This can lead to irrelevant media mentions and skewed analytics. We had a client last year who was monitoring mentions of their brand in the US, but they forgot to specify their target region. As a result, they were getting a lot of mentions from a similarly named company in the UK. Ouch.

Expected Outcome: You should now have a new project created and be redirected to the project dashboard. This dashboard will be empty at first, but it will start to populate with data as you configure your monitoring settings.

Step 2: Setting Up Media Monitoring

Now that you have a project set up, it’s time to start monitoring media mentions. This is where Earned Media Hub really shines. The platform crawls thousands of news sources, blogs, and social media platforms to find mentions of your brand, products, and competitors.

Configuring Keyword Alerts

1. Navigate to the “Monitoring” Tab: In your project dashboard, click on the “Monitoring” tab. It’s usually located at the top of the page.
2. Click “+ New Alert”: You’ll see a button labeled “+ New Alert.” Click it to create a new keyword alert.
3. Define Your Keywords: This is the most important step. You need to define the keywords that you want to monitor. Consider the following:
   • Brand Name: Obviously, you’ll want to monitor mentions of your brand name. Include variations and misspellings.
   • Product Names: Monitor mentions of your products and services.
   • Competitor Names: Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing and what people are saying about them.
   • Industry Keywords: Monitor relevant industry keywords to identify trends and opportunities.
   • Specific Campaigns: If you’re running a marketing campaign, monitor the campaign hashtag and related keywords.
4. Set Alert Frequency: Choose how often you want to receive alerts. You can choose between daily, weekly, or real-time alerts. For critical issues, real-time alerts are best.
5. Configure Advanced Settings: Earned Media Hub offers several advanced settings to refine your alerts:
   • Include/Exclude Keywords: Use these settings to filter out irrelevant mentions. For example, if you’re monitoring mentions of “Apple,” you might want to exclude keywords like “Apple Pie” or “Apple Records.”
   • Source Types: Specify which types of sources you want to monitor (e.g., news sites, blogs, social media).
   • Sentiment Analysis: Enable sentiment analysis to automatically identify the sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) of each mention.
6. Click “Save Alert”: Once you’ve configured your alert, click the “Save Alert” button.

Pro Tip: Use boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) to create more complex keyword queries. For example, “Brand Name AND (Product A OR Product B) NOT Competitor Name.” This will help you filter out irrelevant mentions and focus on the most important ones.

Common Mistake: Using too many keywords in a single alert. This can lead to alert fatigue and make it difficult to identify the most important mentions. It’s better to create multiple alerts with focused keywords.

Expected Outcome: Earned Media Hub will start crawling the web for mentions of your keywords. You’ll receive alerts based on your chosen frequency. The “Monitoring” tab will start to populate with data.

Step 3: Analyzing Your Earned Media Coverage

Once you’ve set up your media monitoring, it’s time to analyze your earned media coverage. Earned Media Hub provides a range of analytics tools to help you understand the impact of your PR and content marketing efforts.

Using the Analytics Dashboard

1. Navigate to the “Analytics” Tab: In your project dashboard, click on the “Analytics” tab. It’s usually located next to the “Monitoring” tab.
2. Explore the Dashboard: The “Analytics” dashboard provides a range of visualizations and metrics, including:
   • Mention Volume: This shows the total number of mentions over time.
   • Sentiment Analysis: This shows the overall sentiment (positive, negative, or neutral) of your mentions.
   • Top Sources: This identifies the sources that are mentioning your brand the most.
   • Key Themes: This identifies the key topics and themes that are associated with your brand.
   • Share of Voice: This compares your brand’s mentions to those of your competitors. A Nielsen study showed that brands with a higher share of voice tend to have stronger brand awareness and customer loyalty.
3. Filter and Segment Data: Use the filters and segmentation options to drill down into the data. For example, you can filter by date range, source type, sentiment, and keyword.
4. Generate Reports: Earned Media Hub allows you to generate reports to share your findings with stakeholders. You can customize the reports to include the metrics and visualizations that are most important to you.

Pro Tip: Pay close attention to the sentiment analysis. Negative sentiment can be a sign of a potential PR crisis. Address negative mentions quickly and proactively to mitigate the damage.

Common Mistake: Focusing too much on vanity metrics like mention volume. It’s more important to focus on the quality of the mentions and the impact they’re having on your brand. We ran into this exact issue at my previous firm. We were getting tons of mentions, but they were mostly from low-quality sources and weren’t driving any meaningful results.

Expected Outcome: You should gain a deeper understanding of your earned media coverage and its impact on your brand. You should be able to identify trends, opportunities, and potential risks.

Step 4: Influencer Discovery and Outreach

Earned Media Hub also offers tools to help you identify and connect with influencers. Influencer marketing can be a powerful way to amplify your brand’s message and reach a wider audience. But here’s what nobody tells you: it’s hard to find genuine influencers who align with your brand. That’s where this tool can help.

Finding Relevant Influencers

1. Navigate to the “Outreach” Tab: In your project dashboard, click on the “Outreach” tab. It’s usually located next to the “Analytics” tab.
2. Use the Influencer Discovery Tool: Earned Media Hub’s influencer discovery tool allows you to search for influencers based on keywords, industry, location, and other criteria.
3. Filter and Sort Results: Use the filters and sorting options to refine your search. You can filter by:
   • Reach: The size of the influencer’s audience.
   • Engagement Rate: The level of engagement the influencer receives on their content.
   • Relevance: How relevant the influencer is to your industry and target audience.
4. Analyze Influencer Profiles: Click on an influencer’s profile to view their bio, recent posts, and engagement metrics. This will help you determine if they’re a good fit for your brand.
5. Add Influencers to Your List: Add the influencers you’re interested in to your list. You can then use Earned Media Hub to manage your outreach efforts.

Pro Tip: Don’t just focus on influencers with large followings. Micro-influencers (influencers with smaller, more engaged audiences) can often be more effective. According to a 2024 IAB report, micro-influencers often deliver higher engagement rates and better ROI than macro-influencers.

Common Mistake: Reaching out to influencers without doing your research. Make sure you understand their audience, their content, and their values before you contact them. A generic outreach email is a surefire way to get ignored.

Expected Outcome: You should be able to identify a list of relevant influencers who can help you amplify your brand’s message. You can then use Earned Media Hub to manage your outreach efforts and track your results.

Step 5: Measuring and Reporting Your Results

The final step is to measure and report your results. This will help you understand the ROI of your earned media efforts and identify areas for improvement. Did your efforts actually translate into increased brand awareness, lead generation, or sales? Let’s find out.

Tracking Key Metrics

1. Use the Reporting Dashboard: Earned Media Hub’s reporting dashboard allows you to track key metrics, such as:
   • Website Traffic: Track the amount of traffic that’s coming to your website from earned media sources. You can integrate Earned Media Hub with Google Analytics 4 to track this data.
   • Lead Generation: Track the number of leads that are being generated from earned media efforts.
   • Sales: Track the number of sales that are being generated from earned media efforts.
   • Brand Awareness: Track brand awareness metrics, such as brand mentions, social media engagement, and share of voice.
2. Customize Your Reports: Customize your reports to include the metrics that are most important to you. You can also add your own branding to the reports.
3. Share Your Reports: Share your reports with stakeholders to demonstrate the value of your earned media efforts.

Pro Tip: Don’t just focus on the quantity of mentions. Focus on the quality of the mentions and the impact they’re having on your business. Are the mentions positive? Are they driving traffic to your website? Are they generating leads or sales?

Common Mistake: Failing to track your results. If you don’t track your results, you won’t know if your earned media efforts are working. And if you don’t know if they’re working, you won’t be able to improve them. Plain and simple.

Expected Outcome: You should be able to demonstrate the value of your earned media efforts and identify areas for improvement. You should also be able to use this data to inform your future PR and content marketing strategies.

I had a client in the legal tech space who used Earned Media Hub to monitor mentions of their brand and competitors. They discovered that their competitors were getting a lot of negative press due to a data breach. They quickly capitalized on this by creating content that highlighted their own security measures. This led to a significant increase in leads and sales. That’s the power of earned media done right.

Earned Media Hub is a powerful tool for marketing professionals who want to maximize the impact of their earned media strategies. By following these steps, you can set up your account, configure your monitoring settings, analyze your coverage, identify influencers, and measure your results. So, are you ready to take control of your brand’s narrative and unlock the full potential of earned media?

Stop guessing about your earned media performance. Start tracking, analyzing, and optimizing your efforts with Earned Media Hub. Your brand’s story deserves to be heard, and this tool can help you make it happen.